Greg Mort

Read a watercolor magazine this afternoon in Chapters, had a big cup of blueberry frapuccino and felt frozen and nauseated.

My thoughts on Greg Mort (below), one of the most renowned self-taught American artists (or so it says on his website)


Fabric of Space

I'll categorise Mort into 'galaxy incorporated into ordinary objects' label. Ordinary objects in particular are apples, tissue paper, napkins, and boxes.

I admire his mastery of details, extravagant patience and self-invent techniques (can you believe he doesn't use white paint.) Mort said 'it's not true watercolor is unalterable as convention goes. You can paint and repaint to achieve the final results.' My feelings on this are partial. Surely it's good to manipulate thousands time over but Mort's drawings don't reflect the strength of watercolor. If it can be equally well expressed in another medium, the awe is discounted. His works (most of them, or the 'representatives') don't have the transparency and fluidity. That's just my personal opinion.

But WOW, self-taught, anti-academy type of guy who made a name for himself. That's both wonderful and lucky!